Suddenly.
The sky over the Foreign Realm went dark.
Without any warning, an indescribably vast shadow completely obscured the blood-red heavens.
The entire Foreign Realm was instantly plunged into darkness so deep that no one could see their own hand.
Those were not storm clouds.
It was a colossal Dark Gold object slowly drifting through the chaos!
It was too immense.
So immense that it spanned countless star domains of the Foreign Realm, and even the World Tree at the realm's very center trembled beneath its oppressive presence.
"What is that?!"
Deep within the Foreign Realm, another Immortal King, Yu Tuo, instantly awoke, his manifestation soaring into the sky.
Countless beings of the Foreign Realm raised their heads in terror, staring at the Dark Gold vault overhead whose end was nowhere in sight.
An Lan's eyes snapped open.
He sensed a provocation.
He was an Immortal King. Even the mighty Immortal Kings of the Immortal Domain would not dare brazenly roll over his head like this!
"Playing tricks."
An Lan snorted coldly.
He slowly rose, his right hand abruptly tightening around his golden spear.
Boom!
The full pressure of an Immortal King erupted, instantly collapsing the surrounding void.
An Lan raised one arm toward the heavens and hurled his golden spear!
This spear had once pierced the boundary wall of the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands and nailed countless True Immortals to their deaths.
Now it became a streak of golden lightning piercing the universe, charging straight toward the Dark Gold shadow overhead with unparalleled destructive power!
Stars exploded in the spear's wake, and streams of chaotic energy were forcibly cleaved apart.
Clang!!!
An earth-shaking crash erupted, shaking the entire Foreign Realm.
The golden spear struck the colossal Dark Gold object with perfect accuracy.
Then came a sight that every being in the Foreign Realm would remember for all eternity.
The Immortal King weapon, powerful enough to pierce a great thousandfold world, burst into sparks brighter than hundreds of millions of suns the instant it struck the Dark Gold surface.
The sparks scattered like rivers of stars.
But that was all.
The colossal Dark Gold object did not even tremble.
Instead, an utterly terrifying recoil surged back along the spear.
Hum!
The golden spear let out a mournful cry, its shaft actually bending into a bizarre arc.
An Lan's pupils contracted sharply.
The webbing of his right hand split open instantly, and golden immortal blood sprayed out!
The bones throughout his right arm grated with a teeth-aching sound.
An Lan clenched his teeth, his legs plowing two deep furrows into the ancient war chariot before he barely managed to dissipate the recoil.
He raised his head and stared fixedly at the heavens.
The colossal Dark Gold object seemed not to have noticed the attack at all, continuing to drift slowly over the Foreign Realm at a constant speed.
Like an elephant paying no attention whatsoever to a fly landing on its back.
"What... exactly is that?"
An Lan's spear-wielding hand trembled slightly, and for the first time, an emotion called fear welled up in the depths of his eyes.
Yu Tuo's manifestation arrived beside An Lan, his expression equally grave.
"Old friend, that thing... seems to be merely the edge of a scale."
The two Immortal Kings, invincible throughout the long river of epochs, actually felt their own insignificance before a passing scale.
The Perfect World was powerful.
An Lan's all-out strike had indeed scraped sparks from Gu Xian's scale, even making the sleeping Gu Xian feel a faint itch like "static electricity."
But it was only static electricity.
The view returned to the Sin Province Border.
The void was forcibly torn apart, and an enormous bronze warship descended with towering ferocity.
The Heavenly Human Clan's warship had arrived.
The Self-Severing Realm elder stood at the prow, his divine sense sweeping across the land below like a storm.
"Found you!"
The elder's gaze instantly locked onto Shi Hao, who was preparing to slip away quietly.
"You little bastard, let's see where you can run now!"
The elder roared, his voice exploding over the wasteland.
Shi Hao silently cursed his bad luck, pushing Nine Secrets: Xing to its limit beneath his feet as he turned into a streak of light and darted behind the Dark Gold mountain range.
He was clever.
Since this "guardian spirit" was so terrifying, he would use it as a shield.
The Heavenly Human Clan's warship hovered in midair.
The elder looked down upon the Ancient Barbarian Tribe below and the Dark Gold mountain range stretching across the horizon.
He did not activate his heavenly eye to examine it closely.
To him, it was nothing more than an unusual mineral vein in a remote corner of Sin Province.
"You think hiding behind a lousy mountain means I can't do anything to you?"
The elder waved his hand, his face twisted into a savage grin.
"Fire the warship's main cannon! Raze him and that mountain to the ground!"
The Heavenly Human Clan disciples aboard immediately obeyed.
An enormous crystal cannon rose from the bow, frantically drawing in the surrounding spiritual energy of heaven and earth.
Dazzling divine light gathered at its muzzle, the pressure of its energy shattering the surrounding void inch by inch.
Hiding behind the Dark Gold scale, Shi Hao poked half his head out to look at the sky and could not help swallowing.
These idiots from the Heavenly Human Clan.
They really did not know how the word "death" was written.
Boom!
An immense beam of destructive light blasted from the warship.
With the momentum of crushing rotten wood, the beam hurtled toward the Dark Gold mountainside where Shi Hao was hiding.
The Ancient Barbarian Tribe's people were so frightened that they prostrated themselves on the ground, trembling.
In their eyes, an attack of this caliber was nothing less than a world-ending heavenly punishment.
The beam slammed into the Dark Gold mountainside.
What happened next left every Heavenly Human Clan cultivator aboard the warship frozen like stone.
There was no explosion.
No shattered rocks flew.
The destructive beam, powerful enough to erase a small or medium-sized Dao province, scattered in every direction the instant it touched the Dark Gold mountainside, like water striking a reef.
It was not even worthy of leaving a white mark on the mountain.
"How is this possible?!"
The Self-Severing Realm elder's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets.
An all-out blast from the warship's main cannon had failed to shatter even a rock?
Just as he was about to order another attack.
A faint gleam once again lit up the Dark Gold mountainside.
The same formula.
The same recoil.
Only this time, the Heavenly Human Clan warship's attack was considerably stronger than that of the previous Celestial God elder, and the recoil it triggered grew stronger accordingly.
A spatial ripple visible to the naked eye abruptly spread from the Dark Gold mountainside.
The ripple moved with incredible speed.
It swept across the thousand-zhang bronze warship in midair in an instant.
Crack...
The supposedly indestructible protective barrier around the warship burst like a bubble the moment it touched the ripple.
Immediately afterward, the enormous bronze warship began to disintegrate.
From bow to stern, it crumbled inch by inch.
The hundreds of Heavenly Human Clan cultivators aboard did not even have a chance to scream before the invisible recoil crushed their bodies into the finest blood mist.
The Self-Severing Realm elder did not even have time to summon his manifestation before following those disciples into death, becoming a cloud of scarlet blood mist.
A gust of wind blew past.
A rain of blood fell from the sky onto the wasteland.
The enormous bronze warship had vanished entirely from the world.
Shi Hao poked his head out from behind the Dark Gold scale.
Looking at the empty sky, he wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.
"Gulp."
Shi Hao clearly heard himself swallow.
A warship led by a Self-Severing Realm expert.
Gone, just like that.
And the owner of this mountain range had not even woken up.
Merely reflecting damage passively had erased a mighty force that could swagger unchallenged through the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.
After a moment of stunned silence, the Ancient Barbarian Tribe's people erupted into earth-shaking cheers.
"Our guardian spirit is invincible!"
"The great guardian spirit has protected us!"
Thousands upon thousands of tribespeople kowtowed madly toward the Dark Gold mountainside, their power of faith growing ever denser.
Shi Hao looked at the fervent tribespeople, then glanced at the seemingly endless Dark Gold "wall" before him.
He drew a deep breath.
Was Liu Shen this formidable at her peak back then?
Shi Hao muttered inwardly.
But he understood one thing very clearly.
From this day onward, this wasteland on the Sin Province Border would become the most terrifying forbidden zone for life in all the Three Thousand Dao Provinces.
As long as this Dark Gold "guardian spirit" remained here.
Even the Immortal Families above the Nine Heavens would have to obediently take a detour!
The Foreign Realm.
An Lan stood upon his ancient war chariot.
He lowered his head to look at his right hand.
Golden immortal blood dripped from his fingertips, punching through the chaotic soil below.
The split in the webbing of his hand slowly writhed, trying to heal.
The laws carried by that recoil were so overbearing that they were actually preventing an Immortal King's flesh from reconstructing itself.
Yu Tuo stood beside him, his gaze cold and somber.
An Lan casually tore off a piece of Immortal Gold Cloth and wrapped his right hand.
He neither flew into a rage nor lost his reason and continued attacking.
Having lived for countless epochs, he had always relied on caution and shrewdness to remain standing.
Against a taboo existence whose physical defenses utterly exceeded their understanding and whose size was beyond calculation, attacking blindly would only bring utter disaster.
"Pass down my orders."
An Lan's voice was calm, carrying an unquestionable authority.
"Withdraw the army ten million li and seal off that region of chaos."
"Send people to the edge of the Boundary Sea to investigate whether there are any signs of prehistoric old monsters awakening."
Yu Tuo nodded in agreement.
"What does suffering a hidden loss matter?" An Lan sneered. "Those people in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands are probably more panicked than we are right now. That thing lies across the two realms. If it really starts moving, we're all finished together. Watch for now. If the enemy doesn't move, neither do we."
The Nine Heavens and Ten Lands.
A secluded chamber in the Celestial God Academy.
Meng Tianzheng sat upright on a meditation cushion, regulating the surging blood and qi within him.
The space before him rippled.
Wang Changsheng's figure manifested.
The helmsman of this Immortal Family also wore a solemn expression.
With a sweep of his broad sleeve, a stone table appeared between them, a pot of Dao Enlightenment Tea resting on it.
"The Foreign Realm made a move." Wang Changsheng picked up a teacup and delivered the intelligence directly.
Meng Tianzheng lifted his eyelids.
"An Lan thrust his spear and struck that scale beyond the realm," Wang Changsheng continued, a trace of suppressed shock in his voice. "The golden spear bent. The bones in An Lan's hand shattered."
The secret chamber fell so silent that a falling pin could have been heard.
The two invincible supreme beings exchanged a glance, each seeing the apprehension in the other's eyes.
Meng Tianzheng drew a deep breath, lifted his teacup, and drained it.
"An Lan is a genuine Immortal King. That thrust of his could pierce an entire greater world."
"And even that couldn't breach its defenses?"
Wang Changsheng gave a bitter laugh.
"Never mind breaching its defenses-it didn't even leave a mark. The recoil nearly crippled one of An Lan's arms."
Meng Tianzheng rose and stood with his hands behind his back.
"A creature of such immensity is beyond what numbers or cultivation realms can make up for. Lying there, it is both an enormous crisis for us and an absolute barrier."
"Send word to every Immortal Family and every orthodox lineage in the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands."
"Anyone who dares provoke that existence beyond the realm shall be charged with betraying our kind. Exterminate all nine degrees of their kin!"
Wang Changsheng agreed with this decision.
Since that thing was not moving, they should let it stay there.
If anyone got clever and enraged it, the Nine Heavens and Ten Lands would become history in an instant.
The Three Thousand Dao Provinces.
The ancestral grounds of the Heavenly Human Clan.
News of the Self-Severing Realm elder's death had already reached the highest ranks.
Several hot-tempered elders smashed tables, clamoring to mobilize an army to wash Sin Province in blood and capture Shi Hao.
In the seat of honor.
The old Heavenly Human slowly opened his eyes.
An overwhelming pressure instantly subdued everyone present.
"All of you, shut up."
The old Heavenly Human's voice was quiet, yet carried a bone-chilling cold.
"A main warship, a Self-Severing Realm cultivator, and hundreds of elites evaporated without even sending a distress signal. Is that something that little brat Shi Hao could accomplish?"
Everyone below fell silent as cicadas in winter.
The old Heavenly Human coldly surveyed everyone, cunning and wisdom gleaming in his eyes.
"Something is wrong with that wasteland."
"A power capable of silently erasing a warship in an instant is absolutely not something our Heavenly Human Clan can afford to provoke."
"Relay my decree: suppress the news. Designate the Sin Province Border a forbidden zone. No member of the Heavenly Human Clan is to take even half a step near it!"
"As for Shi Hao... let the fools from the other orthodox lineages test the minefield. We'll sit on the mountain and watch the tigers fight."
The wasteland at the Sin Province Border.
A breeze swept past.
The ashes that the Heavenly Deity elder and the bronze warship had become scattered on the wind, their deaths stirring not a ripple.
Shi Hao sat cross-legged on a distant hillside.
He toyed with the God-Striking Stone in his hand, his gaze fixed on the Dark Gold mountain range ahead.
The members of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe were still worshipping fervently.
As time passed, the warm currents of air emanating from that "mountain" grew purer and purer.
The chief of the Ancient Barbarian Tribe had already begun to regain vitality in his once-shriveled body, faintly showing signs of breaking through to the Venerable Realm.
Shi Hao saw it very clearly.
This thing was entirely passive.
If you left it alone, it was a quiet spirit-gathering formation, giving off fortune that made people's eyes burn with envy.
If you provoked it, the Heavenly Human Clan's warship showed what awaited you.
Shi Hao rubbed his chin.
"The Heavenly Human Clan definitely won't let this go, but those old fellows are as shrewd as ghosts. They probably won't dare act rashly before uncovering the truth."
"I can take advantage of this auspicious spot to rest and recuperate."
Shi Hao stood, preparing to head to the outskirts and help himself to a little life essence.
Just then.
Violent ripples suddenly spread through the void ahead.
A crystalline willow branch appeared out of nowhere, silently tearing space apart.
A figure of peerless grace stepped out of the void.
Three thousand strands of dark hair danced in the wind, and three thousand spheres of light surrounded her, as though three thousand worlds were being born and destroyed within them.
Liu Shen.
Shi Hao spun around, wild joy flashing in his eyes.
"Liu Shen! What brings you here?"
Liu Shen did not look at Shi Hao.
From the moment she stepped out of the void, her gaze had been locked firmly on the Dark Gold mountain ahead.
A rare trace of solemnity had actually appeared on her exquisitely beautiful face, usually as still as an ancient well.
Liu Shen stepped forward.
She walked very slowly.
With every step, the void beneath her feet let out a groan, unable to bear the burden.
The physical pressure naturally emanating from the Dark Gold scale was resisting the approach of any powerful being.
Braving this pressure, Liu Shen came to a point a thousand zhang before the Dark Gold mountain.
She stopped.
She gently raised her jade-like hand, brilliant Immortal Dao Runes lighting up at her fingertips.
She was performing deductions.
She was tracing its origin.
Before you continue